God’s sheep are safest when living in clearly fenced enclosures. There, they learn where food is given to them and where their shepherd enters and exits. Good fences keep out predators, deter thieves, and prevent the sheep themselves from wandering away. Within the Christian tradition, the areas of consensus across the ages are our clear […]
Monday, 01 May, 2023 by Harrison Perkins
The doctrine of God seems to be the headlining topic in theology right now. An explosion of academic and popular publications are appearing, all aiming to help us to know our Maker and Redeemer more fully. This new interest in God himself is good and right, since the gospel of God aims to reunite sinners […]
Monday, 13 March, 2023 by Harrison Perkins
*** Cambridge University Press | 2022 | 236 pages (paperback) | $39.99 As an American who used to live in the UK, British news commentary on American politics always left me with a sense of dysphoria. Although they named the right topics and assessed them in terms of familiar-sounding categories, I was always left with […]
Wednesday, 01 March, 2023 by Harrison Perkins
The church where I presently serve in London emphasizes the practice of singing the Psalms. We usually sing two hymns and two unaccompanied Psalms in each of our services. Because we are in London, we get people from a lot of different backgrounds, many of whom come with the question: Why sing the Psalms? This […]
Friday, 05 August, 2022 by Harrison Perkins
This series continues to work through Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley’s recent, mammoth undertaking to produce a four-volume presentation of the system of Reformed theology. As before, each post looks at a particular section (or sections) within this project, rather than attempting to review a whole volume at a time, which would inevitably result in […]
Monday, 02 May, 2022 by Harrison Perkins
Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley have undertaken to produce a four-volume (probably nearing ten thousand pages in all) systematic theology that introduces the major topics of Christian theology in a biblically grounded, historically informed, and practically oriented way. This review series looks at these volumes one section at a time, reflecting on how this project […]
Monday, 07 February, 2022 by Harrison Perkins
As noted in part 1 of this series, recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in systematic theology. Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley’s projected four-volume Reformed Systematic Theology is a solid example of an expanding renewal of research and publication concerning properly categorical theology. This post explores Beeke and Smalley’s section on theology proper. […]
Wednesday, 03 November, 2021 by Harrison Perkins
Recent years have seen a veritable explosion of publications in systematic theology with a renewed interest in historically grounded and hermeneutically attuned dogmatic exploration. One major contribution in that ongoing program is Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley’s projected four-volume Reformed Systematic Theology. Each volume aims to address two loci of systematic theology with the two […]
Friday, 06 August, 2021 by Harrison Perkins
Christians know that we are supposed to be both praying people and imitators of Christ. Do we often think about what Jesus’ prayer life teaches us about ours, though? This post looks at Christ’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, as recorded in Mark 14:22–42, to see what the Son’s prayer there might teach us […]
Wednesday, 19 May, 2021 by Harrison Perkins
For a long time, it was assumed that Reformed churches would hold a service both on Sunday morning and Sunday evening. Although still practiced in many congregations, this pattern is no longer necessarily the expectation or assumption concerning how the Lord’s Day will be observed. If we believe in Reformed principles, however, we must consider […]
Wednesday, 17 February, 2021 by Harrison Perkins
The Bible has a lot to say about the covenants – the formal and binding relationships – that God makes with his people. At each major stage in the development of redemptive-history, God facilitates his relationship with his people by using a covenant. It is, therefore, of premier importance that we would pay close attention to […]
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 by Harrison Perkins
There are countless passages that exhort believers about the seriousness of their walk of holiness before God. Scripture strongly affirms that we should flee from sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:18), flee from idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14), flee love of money (1 Tim. 6:11), flee youthful passions (2 Tim. 2:22), and resist the devil (Jam. 4:7). […]
Monday, 16 November, 2020 by Harrison Perkins